SAN DIEGO'S
PROFESSIONALTEAM

POLL RESULTSWhat should the Anaheim Ducks name their San Diego AHL team?

San Diego Gulls 63% (3,024)

San Diego Admirals 15%
(739)

San Diego Ducklings 3%
(181)

San Diego Mighty Ducks 11%
(528)

Other 5% (285)

Total votes4,757

Your NHL Anaheim Ducks AHL AffiliateTHE SAN DIEGO GULLS

The Ducks announced
their American Hockey League (AHL) club’s new name and logo in an ice-breaking
ceremony at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. Unveiled by owners Susan
and Henry Samueli, and co-owner Jillian Samueli, the team was officially named
the San Diego Gulls. The new logo pays homage to the legacy of the WCHL Gulls
logo and features the Ducks color palette and other design elements, including
the Ducks trademark windswept font. A touch of the signature Gulls blue was
added to the Ducks color palette to embrace the hockey history and tradition of
the community. The clubs new colors are orange, black, and blue.

After the official
unveiling, owners Henry and Susan Samueli, along with Chief Executive Officer
Michael Schulman, held a press conference with members of the media.

You were expecting a good
turnout. What were your thoughts when you saw the amount of fans that came to
the event?

Henry Samueli: We were elated. It took us literally an hour to get from the
freeway off-ramp to the arena. We had big smiles on our faces because we knew
all of these people were in line to get into the arena. It was very exciting for
us. We’re very excited to bring it back because we know there’s a tradition
here. We had been looking at moving a team here ever since we took over the
Anaheim Ducks. It takes a lot of work to align the stars and get five teams to
agree and get their leases to coincide at the same time. It took us 10 years of
work to finally make this come to fruition. We’re so excited.

What does this mean for the
growth of hockey in Southern California? It seems like this was a natural
progression for you guys.

Susan Samueli: With what you saw, the people are here. The youth hockey that San
Diego can provide is exactly what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get young
people to enjoy hockey. Now we’re in San Diego, so we’re just spreading the word
about hockey from Orange County to San Diego County. We’re thrilled.

The location seems perfect
with San Diego being only a train ride away from Honda Center.

Michael Schulman: When we sat with the other four teams to make a decision as to
who was going to go where, we jumped in first and said we wanted San Diego.
We’ve known all along this is the place we want to be. It’s a natural extension.
We’ll be bussing up to Northern California for games, but this is exactly where
we want to be.

What makes San Diego a good
hockey market?

Michael Schulman: They’re great sports fans, they’re great baseball fans and
great football fans. Hockey is just a natural extension to that. We already know
their youth hockey is good because they’ve been begging us to join our high
school league. They already have a roller hockey league which is stronger than
the one we have up there. It’s already a given. They just needed a team to
support.

How important is it to have
success at the American Hockey League level?

Michael Schulman: This is where they learn the game. If they don’t go through
the AHL, there has been a history where they don’t perform well. They need to be
able to spend time and learn the game. A lot of the guys we draft come out right
at 18 or 19. They need to come in and learn the game, and learn it right. As you
can see, most of the people on our team came through the AHL.

Was there any chance the
name would be anything other than the Gulls?

Susan Samueli: We were thinking of all kinds of things. The Admirals might’ve
actually worked here very well, considering San Diego is a navy town, but we
knew the tradition of hockey was here. The San Diego Gulls was perfect. The
Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Gulls. It’s great.

What was the process of
acquiring the name San Diego Gulls?

Henry Samueli: We had to go through a negotiation to acquire all the rights to
the website, the name, and everything. We completed that, and it’s done. The
Gulls name is secure.

How important was it to
incorporate the old logo with the Anaheim Ducks branding?

Susan Samueli: We really wanted to keep the Anaheim Ducks colors, but we also
wanted to make sure the brand worked with the San Diego Gulls. We worked very
hard to incorporate the colors and the new logo.

Henry Samueli: If you look
at the logo, we wanted to have the blue around it because blue is a very strong
color in San Diego sports, so we added that. We kept the black and orange of
traditional Ducks hockey, and of course, the main logo is almost identical to
the original Gulls logo. We tried to keep the tradition and bring in the font
style of the Ducks and the color orange of the Ducks, but maintain legacy and
tradition with the Gulls logo. The color scheme is a blend of San Diego and
Orange County sports.